AS any Guyanese who has either visited the United States or interacted with family living there will attest, the definitions of “black” very much vary between the two countries. Here, to be black literally means to have dark skin and be of African descent. In the United States, it often seems instead that being black really means not being completely, solely of Caucasian descent. Everyone in the community of color is unfortunately often painted with a very, very broad brush.

This attitude cuts a stark contrast with Guyana’s quite detailed appreciation of differing skin tones, and especially racial mixes. We acknowledge “red”, “dougla”, “buffiander” in addition to “brown skin” amongst many other descriptions. While admittedly some may not appreciate being put into a particular categorisation by the public, at least a robust effort has been made to recognise the many subtleties that make up one’s background.

The issue of not recognising such complexity actually came up in a very interesting way in Hollywood, as young actress, Zendaya, claimed that she was sadly what the industry recognised as an acceptable black person. Of course a casual glance by any random Guyanese would immediately mark her as a ‘red’ woman. Her skin tone, facial features and the fact that it’s difficult to identify her exact heritage are classic indicators of a red woman.

That Hollywood not only did not recognise the complexity of her identity, but also thought that casting her was anywhere close to an authentic representation of people that closely resemble their African ancestors, is quite telling. It begs the question whether this speaks to a general lack of understanding of the depth of diversity or amounts to a problematic broader rejection of the darker skin tones.

If we give them some degree of benefit of the doubt we could perhaps say that they are just now appreciating diversity, whereas we have lived in a diversity hotspot. We may not recognise this regularly, but this is highly likely to be the most diverse country on earth- and if it isn’t it is certainly near the very top of that list. Unlike many countries that claim to be diverse we have significant populations of every race, even though two form a majority.

Even further, this also points interestingly to the much publicised upcoming royal wedding in the UK. We certainly shouldn’t paint with too broad a brush, but it is a little funny that the British are so excited about an interracial marriage when that is quite common in Guyana.

Guyanese should thus celebrate the wide range of backgrounds that we observe locally and take a moment to note the many names we have set aside, to acknowledge the different blends that have resulted. The heralded national stories of how each group came to this land are not just individual celebrations of heritage, but represent elements of a broader national identity that we should be very, very proud of.